Cougars still dancing
Down 9 with less than 5 minutes left, Cougars survive and advance to second straight Sweet 16
The Houston Cougars celebrate after overcoming a 10-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 63-60 and advance to the Sweet 16.
INDIANAPOLIS — Down nine points with less than five minutes remaining, the University of Houston was on the verge of an early exit from the NCAA Tournament.
“We never thought the game was over,” senior guard DeJon Jarreau said.
As the Cougars slowly chipped at the lead, coach Kelvin Sampson yelled from the bench: “One more stop! One more stop!”
Tramon Mark tied the game with a tip-in with 24 seconds left — and converted the goahead free throw — as the second-seeded Cougars staged a late comeback to squeak out a 63-60 victory over 10th-seeded Rutgers on Sunday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
UH (26-3) advanced to play 11th-seeded Syracuse — a 75-72 winner over No. 3 seed West Virginia — in the Sweet 16.
“Will to win,” Jarreau said. “Will not to go home.”
Jarreau and Grimes hit backto-back 3-pointers to get the Cougars within 58-56 with 2:39 left. After Rutgers’ Geo Baker drove the lane for a layup, the Cougars struggled from the free-throw line with Jarreau and Grimes missing the front end of two free throws.
With Rutgers ahead 60-58, Marcus Sasser came up with the first of two big defensive plays in the final minute. He stole the ball from Jacob Young and passed to Jarreau, who missed the jump shot. Mark, a freshman from Dickinson, came flying through the middle of the lane and got the tip-in to drop as he was fouled to tie the game at 60. He sank the free throw to give UH its first lead since early in the first half.
“He’s a warrior,” Jarreau said. “To see him fly in there, get the rebound and make the and-one shows his toughness and how important he is to this team. That was a culture play.”
Jarreau used the word “culture” at least a dozen times in his postgame news conference. The word is in big, red letters on a wall in the Guy V. Lewis Development Facility’s team meeting room.
Culture was Jarreau playing through the pain of a hip pointer suffered the NCAA Tournament opener against Cleveland State.
Culture was the Cougars relying on rebounding and defense, two of Sampson’s pillars, on Sunday night.
Culture was Sasser overcoming a tough shooting night to come up with two of the biggest defensive stops of the season and a pair of free throws in the final 34 seconds.
Sasser’s final steal came when Baker lost the ball. The Cougars’ sophomore guard grabbed the loose ball and took off before being fouled. He made both free throws for a 63-60 lead.
“He was 1-for-9, but he made two huge free throws and two great defensive plays,” Sampson said. “That tells you what type of kid he is.”
With one final shot to force overtime, Ron Harper Jr.’s jumper was off the mark. Mark was there to grab the rebound as the final seconds ran off the clock.
UH ended the game on a 14-2 run over the final 4:33. Rutgers, meanwhile, missed seven of its final eight shots and went scoreless the final two minutes.
Grimes had 22 points and Jarreau added 17 points and five rebounds for the Cougars. The guards combined to make 13of-25 shots. The rest of UH’s starting lineup — Justin Gorham, Reggie Chaney and Sasser — combined for eight points on 3of-15 shooting.
“This isn’t the first game we’ve won that looked like this,” Sampson said. “There are not many teams that could play as poorly as we did and win.”
UH struggled through uncharacteristic mistakes, miscommunication and cold shooting to trail most of the second half.
Jacob Young, the son of Phi Slama Jama great Michael Young, had nine points for Rutgers (16-11). Baker had a teamhigh 14 points and Montez Mathis had 10.
The Scarlet Knights’ biggest lead was 52-42 with 8:45 left.
With No. 1 Illinois and No. 3 West Virginia losing, the Cougars are the highest remaining seed in the Midwest Region. But just barely. Roommates on the road all season, Jarreau and Mark talk about life and basketball.
Now they have something else to discuss.